


Unexpected Lesson

by ominousunflower



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Kitty Love Zine Volume 2, Marichat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28883013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ominousunflower/pseuds/ominousunflower
Summary: After a disastrous first piano lesson with Adrien, Marinette returns to his mansion for a second one—but what she finds in his room isn't exactly what she expected.Before Marinette can lose her nerve, she flings open the bedroom door. “Sorry I’m late! I was, well…” She trails off, trying to think of an excuse for the five minutes she spent staring at Adrien's door.That’s when she notices that the blond boy standing in the room is the wrong one.“Chat Noir?” Marinette hisses.“Hey, Marinette,” Chat says. “Are you ready for your lesson?”
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 32
Kudos: 330





	Unexpected Lesson

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! I completely forgot to post this after the zine came out, but this was my contribution for Volume 2 of the [Kitty Love Zine](https://kittylovezine.tumblr.com/). It was really great to be part of that project, and I hope you'll all check out the other pieces from the zine!
> 
> I got to work with the artists [Teal](https://teallinum.tumblr.com/) and [Anto](https://masilvi.tumblr.com/), both of whom created amazing art for this fic! You can check out Anto's piece [here](https://masilvi.tumblr.com/post/633799790722940929/heres-my-piece-for-kittylovezine-vol2-this), and I will update this fic with the link to Teal's once it's posted. Also, a big thank-you to [Miraculous Elcie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraculous_elcie) for betaing this piece for me!

Taking a deep breath, Marinette stares at Adrien’s bedroom door, her fist hovering centimeters from the wood. With each passing second, memories of last week’s disastrous first piano lesson flash through her mind. 

First she’d panicked and asked Adrien where the nonexistent H key was. Then she played an A-minor scale seven times in a row, while Adrien repeatedly requested a C-major scale. When the lesson was over, Marinette nearly slammed the keyboard cover on Adrien’s fingers, and only his quick reflexes saved him. 

And worst of all, when Adrien hesitantly asked Marinette if she would prefer a different teacher, she’d blurted out that he was absolutely right—which was the opposite of what she meant to say.

He’d invited Marinette back for another lesson, though, so apparently he hasn’t given up on her yet. 

Summoning her Ladybug courage, Marinette raps her knuckles against the door. “Hello? It’s Marinette!”

“Come in,” a muted voice calls.

Before Marinette can lose her nerve, she flings open the door. “Sorry I’m late! I was, well…” She trails off, trying to think of an excuse for the five minutes she spent staring at his door. 

That’s when she notices that the blond boy standing in the room is the wrong one.

“Chat Noir?” Marinette hisses. 

“Hey, Marinette,” Chat says. He’s leaning against the piano, one leg crossed in front of the other, arms folded casually over his chest. “Are you ready for—“

“Is there an akuma?” Marinette takes a step back, wondering if she needs to hide and transform. “Is Adrien in danger? And, um, where’s Ladybug?”

“Relax, Marinette,” Chat says. “There’s no akuma.”

“But where’s Adrien?”

Grimacing, Chat glances at the windows behind him. “He wanted to…go get ice cream? So I helped him sneak out.” 

“Oh.” Marinette frowns. “I guess my piano lesson is cancelled, then?”

She does her best to keep her voice friendly—which is difficult, when Adrien apparently abandoned her without so much as a text.

“Not at all, princess,” Chat says. He winks. “I’ll be your substitute teacher.” 

Assuming that it’s a joke, Marinette searches for the pun in his words. When she can’t find one, she rolls her eyes, figuring it’s just his bizarre sense of humor. “Right. I’ll just wait for Adrien, then.”

“No, really,” Chat says. “Adrien said he was too hard on you last time, so he asked me to be his replacement. I assure you, I’m much more fun than he is.”

“What do you mean?” Marinette asks, squinting at Chat. Adrien is one of the sweetest people she knows, and last week, he’d been nothing but patient as she made blunder after blunder. “He wasn’t hard on me.”

“Really?” Chat says. “But you told him he was too tough. And that it might be better if you learned from someone else.”

Marinette’s eyes widen in horror. 

She hadn’t meant to say any of that to Adrien. Those words must have tumbled from her mouth when she was trying to explain her mistakes without yelling, _I have a giant crush on you!_

“Anyway,” Chat says, “that’s why I’ll be your teacher this week.” 

Fiddling with her purse strap, Marinette approaches the piano. “Chat, do you even _play_ the piano?”

She’s willing to believe that Adrien left to get ice cream, and that Chat Noir assisted him in that act of rebellion. She’s even able to accept that, for whatever reason, Adrien thought it would be better to let Chat explain all of this to Marinette. For some reason, though, the thought that Chat is a classically trained pianist is just…inconceivable.

“I’ll let you be the judge of that,” Chat says.

He sits down on the piano bench with a flourish and dramatically places his fingers on the keys. Then he begins playing a familiar ditty that makes Marinette roll her eyes. 

“Heart and Soul,” Marinette mutters. “Very impressive. Most people don’t learn to play that until the age of ten.” 

Smiling, Chat plays an arpeggio that ends with him tapping a particularly high note. Marinette opens her mouth to tell him she’s leaving—and suddenly his fingers are flying across the keys, pounding out dramatic chords, moving so quickly that Marinette doesn’t understand how his hands aren’t getting tangled up. 

It’s some sort of classical song, from the sounds of it. And Chat is…extremely talented _._

Shocked, Marinette lowers herself onto the piano bench beside Chat, watching as his fingers expertly navigate the keys. When he finally finishes, he turns to her with a satisfied smile.

“So,” he says. “Think I’m good enough to be your teacher?”

“I—I guess so,” Marinette says. She sets her purse on the ground and turns to Chat. “Um, I think we were doing a C-major scale last time?”

To her amazement, Chat launches into an explanation of intervals and finger positions. Most of what he says sounds vaguely familiar, although it’s easier to retain now that Marinette’s not panicking about Adrien. 

“Do you think you can try that?” Chat asks.

For a moment, Marinette simply stares at Chat, struck by how bizarre the entire situation is. “I think so?”

Chat’s ears flatten. “Sorry, am I being too harsh? I didn’t mean to—”

“No, no!” Marinette says. “You’re fine.” She hesitantly places a hand on the piano, then carefully plays an ascending C-major scale. “Like that?”

“Fantastic!” Chat says. “You’re quite the virtuoso.”

Marinette snorts. “Hardly.” 

“Now, for the descending scale,” Chat says, “play the first five notes normally.” Marinette complies, and then Chat taps her middle finger, making her skin tingle from the prick of his claw. “Then cross your middle finger over your thumb.” 

“Got it,” Marinette says. Smirking, she glances at him from the corner of her eye. “How about an actual challenge?”

“Oh,” Chat says, holding up his hands. “Someone’s confident. Alright, then, princess. Why don’t you play a C-major scale on _both_ hands?”

Forehead scrunched, Marinette slowly plays the first five notes, making sure she crosses her right thumb under her middle finger. She pauses, and Chat starts to reach toward her left hand—but then, like a Lucky Charm solution, it clicks.

“Oh!” Marinette says. She crosses her left middle finger over her thumb and quickly completes the scale. “There.”

“Great,” Chat says. He leans forward, his green eyes glinting. “But what about the descending scale?” 

Marinette blinks, momentarily distracted by Chat’s proximity. It belatedly occurs to her that they’re sitting rather close on the bench: their arms brushing, Chat’s thigh pressed against hers, his face so close that Marinette can see the pores of his skin.

She realizes that his lips are close enough to kiss, too—and then she promptly questions why she’s even thinking about something like that. 

“Marinette?” Chat says.

“R-right,” Marinette says, her cheeks heating. “I have…no idea.”

Chat laughs, and the sound makes Marinette’s traitorous stomach flutter. “I’ll show you,” he says. “Then we can learn some chords.” 

The rest of the lesson passes quickly. It’s the complete opposite of Marinette’s excruciating lesson with Adrien, where she counted down the minutes and was dying of embarrassment the entire time. Playing piano with Chat is fun, easy. Marinette doesn’t feel self-conscious or nervous.

Or, well, not _too_ nervous. When Chat sits next to Marinette on the bench, that makes her heart beat a little faster. When Chat is standing behind her, his fingers brushing her back to fix her posture, she shivers a bit at his touch. And when Chat leans down to whisper a hint in her ear, she momentarily forgets what a piano key is, her mind overtaken by the warmth of his breath against her skin.

It feels like only a few minutes have passed when Chat yawns and says, “Looks like we’re out of time.” 

Marinette stares at the keys in confusion. “It’s been an hour already?”

“Fifty-seven minutes, technically,” Chat says. Arching his back, he stretches his arms above his head. “But I need to retrieve Adrien before Nathalie comes looking for him.” 

“Right,” Marinette says. She slowly picks up her purse and slips it onto her shoulder, reluctant to leave so soon. 

“Something wrong?” Chat asks. “Did I—did I do a bad job?”

“No!” Marinette says. “You were great! Actually…” She chews on her lip, considering. “Could you teach me next week, too? I’ll take lessons from Adrien eventually! I just want to get a little more confident first.” 

“Absolutely!” Chat says. “It’s a win-win. Adrien gets to leave the mansion, and I get to spend more time with you. What’s not to like?”

He winks, and Marinette feels a blush warm her face.

“Great!” she says. “Um, thanks.” 

Grinning, Chat holds out a fist, and Marinette smiles as she pounds it. It’s unexpected, but she’s certainly not complaining if she gets to spend some extra time with her partner.

On her walk home from the mansion, she hums the classical song Chat played for her, already daydreaming about next week’s lesson.


End file.
